HUGUES FÉLICITÉ ROBERT DE LAMENNAIS. HUGUES FÉLICITÉ Robert de LAMENNAIS, a French ecclesiastic, polemical, and political writer, born at St. Malo, June 19, 1782; died at Paris, Feb. 27, 1854. He was ordained priest in 1817. The same year appeared the first volume of his "Essay upon Indifference in the Matter of Religion" (4 vols. 1807-1820), a work of profound learning and of strict orthodoxy. He developed his views further in "Religion Considered in its Relation to the Civil and Political Order" (1825), and “Progress of the Revolution and of the War against the Church" (1829). By degrees he became the critic of Church policy, and his journal L'Avenir (The Future) was condemned by the Pope. Lamennais bowed to Romne's decree; but after a year was published his "Words of a Believer" (1834), in which he repudiates all authority of popes and bishops. The little volume is written in archaic style, imitating the language. of the Hebrew sacred books; it had an enormous circulation among the masses of the people in every country of Europe. It was followed by "The Book of the People" (1837), and "The Past and Future of the People" (1842), in the same tone. He wrote also: "Sketch of a Philosophy" (3 vols., 1841); "Religion "; and translated the Gospels, accompanying the text with notes. OF THE NATURE, EFFECT AND IMPORT OF RELIGION (From "Essay on Indifference in Religion.") GOD is indeed the sovereign of mankind: therefore atheism which, by rejecting God, separates man from infinite truth and from all truth, is but the absolute lack of all good, or the sovereign ill. Deism, which admits God without knowing him, for it rejects Jesus Christ, the Mediator, by whom alone we may know God; deism, which misconstruing the necessary bonds uniting man to God and to other men, establishes arbitrary bonds or fails to establish any; deism, which offers the mind mere probabilities without certainty; deism, pure opinion, leaves man absolute master of his thoughts, of his love, of his actions, and independent of every law of truth and justice: in a state of disorder contrary to nature, and the most wretched of all states after the atheism to which it leads. If then happiness be not a vain illusion, if our desires are not deceitful, if we are not born with faculties that have no object, if our existence has an end, an aim, like that of all other beings, evidently we cannot attain this end except through Religion, which alone undertakes to inform us of our nature, our origin, our destinies; and which alone promises us possession of sovereign truth and of sovereign good. And surely, even before examination, after having vainly exhausted philosophic systems, one must heartily rejoice to learn that there is still hope. Everything in Religion is infinite, because everything is full of God. Therefore the perfect harmony between it and our faculties; and therefore, in all times, and in all climates, man has been naturally attracted toward it, and has craved to be enlightened by its dogmas, and consoled and animated by its hopes and guided by its precepts: and the more Religion is pure, holy, and so to speak, rigorously true and just, the greater its power over man or the greater its conformity with his nature. It is not necessary to seek elsewhere for the natural attraction which draws all nations toward Christianity as soon as it is revealed to them. We do not cease to feel this divine harmony until pride or the senses have led us far astray, and have corrupted and depraved our nature, as Saint Augustine observes from his own experience. "Reflecting within myself," says he, "on the supreme order and beauty, I tried vainly, oh, gentle truth! to rise to you and to rejoice in your inward and ravishing melody. Surrounded by material phantoms, I was enticed away by the voice of error and I departed, sinking under the weight of pride into a bottomless abyss." Man wishes to enjoy the truth, he wishes to enjoy it without reserve; he will never grow surfeited of knowing and of loving. But the intellect left to itself, grows weary, dazed, lost in its own thoughts. It grasps nothing comprehensively; it seizes nothing firmly enough for assurance that doubt will not ravish it away. Who will explain this contradiction? Who will restore repose to man by reëstablishing the equilibrium between his faculties and his desires? This philosophy attempts, but how? Now by telling man that his intelligence can attain everything through its own strength; again by persuading him that it can reach nothing, and forbidding him to exercise it, that is, by making him either a god or a brute, by denying his nature without power to suppress it. Oh! not thus would Religion resolve the great problem. By opening eternity before us of which time is only the portico, she reveals in its depths an infinite succession of steps as it were, by which the intellect, mounting ceaselessly and aided by limitless duration, must ceaselessly approach the ineffable source of eternal truth. And at once she grants and delivers this infinite truth to the soul of which it is both the life and sustenance; and which possesses it here on earth through faith, through love, and through hope. For hope, temporary modification relative to the present state of a natural indestructible sentiment, is but a growing love. The reason why faith, hope, and love are established as virtues and as cardinal divine or infinite virtues, is evident. The law which commands us to believe the infinite truth, only means of possessing it on earth; and to hope for and love infinite good, only means of fully enjoying it on earth; is the essential law of order and hence of happiness. All other laws are derived from it, as action is derived from love, and without this fundamental law all others are nul, chimerical, contradictory; morality is a vain word, and neither crime nor virtue can exist. Marvelous economy of Religion! While all philosophy, beginning by ignorance, would have the human reason build the edifice of truth and happiness on this ruinous foundation without support, Christianity, invested with divine authority as it proves to the very senses by incontestable titles, speaks to men with a confidence which inspires perfect certainty, and which reveals the truth in entity to be their light, their good, their rule. And though all do not understand it equally, yet all may possess and may love it equally. Faith effaces all intellectual differences, whether original, or whether coming from education, condition, or other accidental circumstances; and lends infinite force to the reason of even a child, since it establishes him in society with the infinite reason which is God; decides him irrevocably upon all the great questions which turn philosophers' heads; and elevates him to a height from which in the happy calm of an unshakable conviction, he beholds the human wisdom harassed with disquietude in the midst of desolating uncertainties and eternal doubt. So too, all aspiring to VOL. XIII. — 19 the same happiness, the same happiness is offered all; and as cannot be sufficiently emphasized, happiness their final aim is also their first duty, since love is the first precept, and all the others flow naturally from it. From that moment man has nothing further to seek; he knows his place in the order of beings; he knows God, he knows himself, and without any effort, he finds the peace of love and knowledge in the contemplation of immutable truth. Informed of his duties and as to his destiny, and tranquil about other matters, he ignores nothing which it is necessary or truly useful for him to know. Consequently he experiences a profound repose, an inexpressible content, independent of sensation, and which nothing can trouble, because it has its source in the inmost depths of the soul unreservedly abandoned to the great, essentially good and all powerful Being who is revealed to docile hearts by ineffable means. Thus illuminated by a new light, and appreciating everything at its true value, man ceases to be the plaything of the passions. The invariable rule of order moderates, determines his desires and attachments, and in the irreparable vicissitudes of this transitory life, he sees only short-lived trials of which immortal felicity will be the term and recompense. He is little concerned with the vile interests of this world, and an inexhaustible abundance of pure and affectionate sentiments draws him to his fellows, makes him compassionate of their sorrows and anxious to alleviate them by all the devotion of a tender indefatigable charity. And in sacrificing himself to his brothers, he is sacrificing for himself, so intimate is the union established between men by Christianity, and so powerful is the holy charm of pity! If, to some, the duties of Religion appear hard and rigorous, oh! they do not know what unction sweetens them; they have never tasted the consolations, the gentle attraction, and delightful joys of virtue. They talk of pleasures: are any comparable to those accompanying innocence? Is it nothing to be always content with oneself and with others? Is it nothing to be exempt from repentance and remorse, or to find in repentance a sure refuge against remorse? For even in the tears of penitence there is more sweetness than in the faults which make them roll. The heart of the true Christian is a continual fête. He has greater enjoyment from his renunciation that the unbeliever obtains from his self-indulgence. Happy in prosperity, still happier in trouble, because it enables him to augment the joy awaiting him, he advances with tranquil step across the plains of life, towards the mountain crowned by the eternal city, celestial dwelling of peace, of lasting delights and all good things. The mere anticipation of this peace fills the soul with inexhaustible pleasure. Who has not experienced it, has felt nothing. He may know pleasure, he is ignorant of happiness. Yes, I maintain the humble believer praying in his simplicity of heart at the foot of a solitary altar, experiences a sentiment a thousand times more delicious than the keenest enjoyments of passion. Even the philosopher no sooner forgets the pride of his vain system to surrender himself humbly to faith, than he receives the recompense promised those who will believe. One day, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the author of "Studies of Nature," after a country walk, finding themselves at Mount Valerien, entered the chapel of the Hermits just as the litany was being repeated. Touched by the calm of the spot, and seized with religious emotion, Jean-Jacques and his companion knelt down and mingled their prayers with those of the congregation. The service ended, Rousseau rose, his heart touched, and said to his friend: "Now I experience what is said in the Gospel when two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' The peace and happiness here penetrate the spirit." Founded thus on an experience which never fails, let us not fear to repeat with Montesquieu "How admirable! The Christian Religion which seems to have no other object than the felicity of the other life, also makes us happy in this life." Thus, every day, under our eyes are verified the words of the great Master: "He that hath forsaken all for my sake shall receive an hundredfold even here on earth and shall inherit everlasting life." Philosophic doctrines dry and wither life; take everything away from man except the realization of his own wretchedness; and lead him to the tomb between disgust and disquiet. So when first illusions have vanished, how many incredulous minds envy the happiness of believers. Exhausted of desires, consumed with weariness, tormented by their own vain wisdom, they sigh, Ah! if I could but believe! They feel that faith would reanimate them, strengthen their weakened spirits. The sight of a Christian confounds them with astonishment. His habitual calm, his unalterable serenity, and something pure and lovely which, escaping from the heart spreads over all his face and gives it a heavenly expression, impresses them, charms them, |